With electronic commerce systems, users interact with the system over a network, such as the WorldWide Web or some other public or private network. As electronic commerce systems become more popular and more sophisticated, users will expect the ability to replicate the types of flexibility and features in fulfilling an order that exist with “brick and mortar” stores and, in many cases, will want additional order features. In the business-to-business context, for example, buyers will want a system that works with their purchasing requirements and procedures.
One area in which existing electronic commerce systems do not provide satisfactory mechanisms is in providing flexibility to divide an order in multiple ways, based on different parameters. For example, an order may contain multiple items and the buyer may want to have those items shipped to different locations. Also, a buyer may want to pay for an order using different payment mechanisms. Existing systems provide only a limited ability to divide an order in this and other ways.